Antarctica, South Georgia and South Falklands - 2006

In January 2006 we travelled for three exciting weeks, exploring Antarctica (the Peninsula), South Georgia plus one excursion ashore in the Falklands to observe and photograph Rockhopper Penguins. It's a long way to go - we travelled 36 hours on the way out to Ushuaia, Argentina to meet the ship - but it's worth the effort of course. We lugged a lot of photographic gear, so definitely no hairdryer on this trip, it’s not that sort of cruise (!) and as few clothes as we could get away with to stay within luggage restrictions. The vessel we travelled on was sufficiently small and more stable than most, allowing us to get amongst some of the most spectacular and remote ice on the planet, and giving us more time than most tours allow with the wildlife. Essentially we were on a smaller expedition style tour rather than a cruise - we were very comfortable and too well fed, but the real differentiator was our tour's emphasis on experiencing and photographing the wildlife and ice. Stay away from the upmarket cruises! We maximised the amount of time out on the zodiacs and we had excellent time with Penguins (Kings, Gentoos, Chinstraps and Adelies but regrettably, the only bad weather landing days we experienced during the trip prevented us from seeing Macaronis). Bad weather also prevented us from getting to see nesting Albatross. Very disappointing but next time! We also had excellent shooting time with Fur, Leopard and Elephant Seals, Whales and Albatross, Terns and Petrels. Take a look at some of our photos and let us know what you think.

Just a word on camera and travel tips: you really need to protect your camera gear from sea spray. Getting around in zodiacs is so much fun but the waves and swell are unpredictable and you do really want your camera out as much as possible, except for when you're making a mad dash away from a collapsing ice berg or the weather is just obviously a non-starter. So plastic bags and those heavy duty latex like equipment bags are the order of the day. Wipe everything down when you get back to the ship. Fortunately we got back with all our gear unharmed but take this seriously.  And boy it can get cold down there so layers, layers, layers.

You will take more photos than you expect. 'Trust me' says Julie - I was keeping up with Adam GB wise which I don't ordinarily do but the Penguins are so animated and you are trying to capture their magical moments, you also have to play around with ISO and exposure during each shoot because the weather is just so changeable and there is just so much to see and so much beauty to try to capture and you don't know when you'll be back! So take lots of card space, film and back up/storage capability. Julie was copying cards to her Epson 80 gig and Adam was transferring his to his laptop. We were doing this each lunchtime before we went out for the afternoon shoot and then again before dinner!

They say you will never forget the smell of a Penguin colony.  For us, it was more the noise.  What a marvelously rowdy din a few hundred thousand Penguins can make!

A tip for Ushuaia which is a very beautiful spot, albeit marred by development and there isn't much to do. We highly recommend wandering down to the flying school and going up in a light aircraft. The scenery is magnificent and we enjoyed a spot of aerial photography. The pilots are very charming and you don't need to book before you go. Take a look at some of the shots in the gallery.

We are planning our next expedition to Antarctica.  It is likely to be in December 2008/January 2009 which sounds a long way off, but it’s not, especially considering what we have in mind.  So should you have a potential interest in this expedition, please get in touch.